Article : Special Effects with Gums

Why side units are needed on the monosaccharides chains and what are the examples of gum which are related to the existance of gum?

By weakening the intermolecular association between layers and may provide space for water to “slip” between layers, hydrocolloidwater soluble will be formed. With this, the side units can prevent hydrogen bonding to occur between the monosaccharides chains. A common example is cellulose and cellulose gum. Cellulose is composed of layers of linear glucose molecules with hydroxyl groups protruding from each glucose molecule. Hydrogen bonding occurs at these hydroxyl groups with neighboring cellulose chains. The hydrogen bonds are tight which prevents water from separating the chains, thus making the cellulose water insoluble. However, in the case of cellulose gum, carboxymethyl groups substitute some of the hydroxyl groups, which allow separation of adjacent cellulose chains. The substitution prevents hydrogen bonding from occurring which leads to water able to get between the chains and hydrate, thus making cellulose gum water soluble. Another example relating the importance of substituents is with carrageenan. Carrageenan comes in three forms of kappa, iota, and lambda. Allthree have the same galactose sugar backbone. However, each varies with the number of sulfate groups and anhydro bridges. The sulfate groups (OSO-3) increases water solubility whereas anhydro bridges have hydrophobic properties.



How hydration of hydrocolloids played an important role in the application of food product?

To behave very differently from common food ingredients, hydration of hydrocolloids is an important concept. For instance, sucrose begin to dissolve starting with the outside layer when they are introduced to water . Their general size decreases and they are fully dissolved in water. However, when hydrocolloids are introduced to water, they absorb water and swell like a sponge. When it will reach a maximum point where the molecules will start to unravel, hydrocolloids will form from outside surface. In time, the molecules will float away resulting in a completely hydrated hydrocolloid. Therefore, food gums swell when they are first introduced to water and the particles need to be separated just before contacting the water surface. If the gum particles do not separate, each particle would absorb water, leading to swelling and would stick together to form a large lump. Since it will take much time to fully hydrate each gum particle, lumping is not desirable. To prevent lumping does not occur, the gum particles need to be slightly separated. Separation will allow each molecule to go through the initial swelling without colliding with any other swelling molecules. For separating particles, we can use eductor funnel, sugar and non solvents. An eductor funnel separates particles with a stream of air right before they contact the water. Another way of separating these particles is by the use of sugar. Five parts of sugar are dry blended with one part of food hydrocolloid. The sugar will separate the hydrocolloid molecules enough so they will not contact each other upon swelling. The third way to separate particles is through the use of non solvents, such as vegetable oil, glycerine, or corn syrup. These substances coat the hydrocolloid particles. But they cannot swell when they are introduced into water.